UKRAINE — A massive cyberattack hit computers and servers across the world on Tuesday.
The attack disrupted Ukrainian banks, Russia’s biggest oil company and multinational corporations with a ransomware virus similar to the one that affected more that 300,000 computers last month, Reuters reported.
It began as an attack on Ukrainian government and business computer systems, but quickly spread across the globe from there, the New York Times reported.
Computers in Romania, the Netherlands, Norway, France, Spain, Britain and the United States have all been affected, according to ABC.
Experts believe the latest attack could be a ransomware virus called Petya, which was hidden in a document sent over email.
Petya encrypts and locks down entire hard drives. The hackers are asking for $300 in Bitcoin to unlock computers, according to the New York Times.
As of Tuesday afternoon, 30 victims had paid the ransom, although it’s unclear if they regained access to their machines.
The latest attack appears to have made use of hacking tools that were stolen from the U.S.’s National Security Agency and leaked online by the Shadow Brokers in April, the New York Times reported.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks.
